There are a huge number of religions in the world, each unique and specific, but speaking of the most exotic we cannot ignore Buddhism. We have prepared for you the best little facts about this unusual religion.
1. “Buddha” in Sanskrit means “woken up” in the sense that “waking up to reality”. The word “Buddha” has several meanings, for example it is the highest state of spiritual perfection, and the Buddha is also called the historical Indian spiritual master – Buddha Shakya-Muni and others who have attained enlightenment.
2. Contrary to the stereotype that Buddhism is predominantly found only in Asian countries, more than seven million Buddhists live outside Asia.
3. There are countless Buddha statues around the world, for example, there are 580,000 in Myanmar. In addition, all three of the highest statues in the world are Buddha statues.
4. China estimates the largest amount of Buddhists, about 245 million, over 18% of the total population.
5. In Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, the Buddhist New Year is celebrated for three days.
6. Buddhist monks cannot kill any living creature, for whatever reason, they do not kill even pests and parasites.
7. The swastika is a sacred symbol in many religions, including Buddhism. It symbolizes the sun, life, light, wisdom and abundance. Even the name of the symbol comes from the words “su” and “asti”, which in Sanskrit means “good” and “being”.
8. Some Chinese farmers use plastic molds to grow pears similar to Buddha’s.
9. Unlike many religions, Buddhism does not have a single central book. There are many texts, including even those that wrote Siddhattha Gotama, but many schools use different written sources in Buddhism. However, the schools are getting along very well.
10. Buddhism is not very popular in Ukraine, but today there are more than fifty Buddhist communities and the number of followers is about 0.1% of the total population.
